Monday 15 September 2014

Review ~ Your Beautiful Lies by Louise Douglas

17612974
Transworld
2014

Annie Howarth is living what should be the perfect life. She is married to William, who is a high ranking police officer in the South Yorkshire force; they have a beautiful daughter and a lovely home. On the surface life is good, but this is 1984 and the miners strike is in full swing and for the small mining communities of South Yorkshire, life is about to change forever. When Annie discovers that her former lover has returned to town after a ten year absence, a sense of restlessness starts to pervade and she finds that old memories run deep. When scandal threatens, Annie is haunted by the repercussions which follow.

The story is absorbing, entertaining and beguiling in equal measure. Annie’s story resonates and you very quickly become involved in her life, her family and share her simple joys and in the overwhelming dilemma of her life. There’s never a lull in the narrative, never a moment when the writing doesn’t draw you into situations which are plausible and realistic and which, undoubtedly, make you sit up and take notice. The restlessness of a community at odds with itself is well demonstrated and the agitation and unease of people living through an extraordinary time is shown in the almost indolent nature of the narrative and which reflects how the story is allowed to develop.

This author never puts a foot wrong and I know that whenever a new book beckons I am in for a real treat and that as soon as I start to read the first page, the outside world ceases to exist and I become lost in a plot which keeps my attention from beginning to end. I started to read Your Beautiful Lies at six o’clock on Friday evening and didn't look up until the book was finished in the early hours of Saturday.

It was a Friday night well spent.



Louise Douglas


My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for my copy of this book.

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